1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to a portable food product; more particularly, to a Mexican-type food item, having a pliable, tabular, rectangular integral food filling member wrapped: (to form multiple tortilla/filling plies) in a round tortilla.
2. Background Information
Tacos and burritos are portable Mexican-type food products that contain food wrapped in a tortilla shell. They are made by placing a loose food stuffing, such as one or more of the following: scrambled eggs, beans, cheese, strips of beef, chicken, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions, chopped potatoes, or the like, on a round flat tortilla and then folding or rolling the tortilla around the food stuffing.
Making many tacos or burritos can be time consuming. This is especially true at fast food restaurants which rely on efficiency and speed to produce and sell their product. For example, when a customer orders an egg breakfast burrito, the cook must lay out a flat tortilla shell, ladle in some scrambled eggs. from a pan, take tomatoes, onions and/or cheese out of other containers, lay them in with the eggs, and then roll it up and hope the stuffed food does not fall out. This manual burrito building process is time consuming, especially when a large number of tacos or burritos are needed.
The term taco or burrito as used herein means a food product produced when a food filling is wrapped, or substantially enclosed, in a soft, typically round, tortilla.
A second problem exists with the present tacos and burritos; food often falls out the end if it is tilted when it is being eaten. This occurs, in part, because loose food filling is usually placed into the center of the tortilla, which makes it xe2x80x9cfat.xe2x80x9d This gives the taco or burrito a xe2x80x9cpregnantxe2x80x9d or bloated look.
Therefore, it can be seen that xe2x80x9cfatxe2x80x9d tacos or burritos that are time consuming to make and which allow food filling to fall out can be improved upon. Applicant""s present invention is designed to provide for a taco or burrito which has a specific shape to the food filling member, and to automate the manufacture of a tortilla food product and, further, to provide a food product with a sleek outer shape from which food filling does not fall out.
This and other objects are found in a portable Mexican-type taco or tortilla food product, which includes a tortilla having a flat, tabular, rectangular, pliable, sheet-like food substance rolled up therewith.
Applicant""s invention includes a round flexible tortilla, typically 5 to 16 inches in diameter and {fraction (1/16)} to xe2x85x9c inch thick, onto which is placed a pliable, integral (as opposed to loose), rectangular food member, which will substantially cover the surface of the tortilla. The two are rolled together into one so that, in cross section, there are alternating food filling and tortilla plies.
The resulting food product is quicker to manufacture and it is sleeker, given that the pliable sheet-like, rectangular food member is of uniform thickness. This gives the resulting product a sleek look, not the xe2x80x9cpregnantxe2x80x9d look of the present burritos or stuffed tacos.
In achieving the utility set forth above, Applicant has provided an improved food product. In a food product, including a taco rolled up with a pliable, round egg omelet, applicant has provided an improvement which comprises trimming the egg omelet from a round shape to a square or rectangular shape (the term tabular being used to be either a square or a rectangular shape). Applicant has provided for additional utility in that he pours egg in liquid form, which is allowed to coagulate or solidify, in a large sheet-like member, which large sheet-like member is then sliced into a rectangular shape. That is, a rectangular sheet-like food member in a typically uniform thickness, will result in a sleek look to the rolled up burrito. Further, Applicant provides for machinery to use in conjunction with a method for making rectangular, pliable, egg food product. Machinery includes a hopper for dispensing the liquid egg mix onto a conveyor belt, which mix spreads evenly over the conveyor belt and is carried to a warming oven, and, upon leaving the oven, is sliced and cut into rectangular shapes. The warm egg food product is then deposited off the end of the conveyor belt onto warm round tortillas, being borne on a second belt. The egg food filler member and tortilla combination is then rolled and packaged according to ways known in the trade.